Movers Watch

Relocating just a house is so difficult, imagine how tough it must be to relocate a whole office. with all the furniture and the equipment and so on. But like all problems, this too has a solution. You just have to do things in a systematic manner and be careful about certain aspects.

The objective is to make the move as convenient and as cost effective as possible. A good thing is to involve your employees. You obviously have to tell them about it, so why not involve some key employees and have a brainstorming session. Hold surveys, ask for their ideas regarding better use of workspace, and reward the best ones. This’ll help save money, and make the employees happy as well (which is important because they’re very much a part of the office that you’re relocating). If needed, negotiate release from current lease of office space.

Take your time, and pick a reliable mover. Along with the mover, pick a good architect or a space planner for proper utilisation of your new workspace. Keep some space for possible future expansion. You never know when you’ll need it, and anyways, having some room for additional equipment or employees is good. Design and plan the new workspace and as that is done, take care of other things as follows.

Take care of the address change through the post office. Also contact the ultility companies to take care of water, power and other services at the new as well as current office (removal in this case). Get custom wiring done for telephone and network services. If you have lots of electronic equipment, you need to have enough power outlets. This done, you can now get to the actual moving of items.

Remove all materials from desks, shelves, drawers and put them safely into cartons. Important papers like cheques, documents etc. need to be carried by you. Of course, do some sorting and get rid of the extra paperwork. The movers will not assume responsibility for these. Cabinets don’t have to be emptied before moving, just locked properly. Coming to the electronics, all equipment (including computers and other electronic machinery) should be dismantled and then re-assembled at the destination with the help of a professional. other equipment like water dispensers and vending machines should be emptied before moving. If you’re moving any hired machinery, the owner should be informed about it.

This should take care of the basic stuff. But moving an office involves so many small details that all of them can’t be listed here. I will list some of the important ones:

• If buying new equipment, arrange for employee training on the same.
• Get new stationery printed having your new office address.
• Update your website.
• Also update business licenses, insurance policies, tax exemption certificates.
• Hand new passcards or keys to employees.